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+0.00(+0.09%)

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Apr 3, 2014) - Toronto Real Estate Board President Dianne Usher announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported strong year-over-year increases in TorontoMLS home sales and the average selling price in March 2014. Home ownership affordability, backstopped by low borrowing costs, continued to be a key factor underlying this growth.

A total of 8,081 sales were reported in March 2014 - up by 7.2 per cent in comparison to March 2013. Sales growth was much stronger in March compared to the first two months of the first quarter. Sales for Q1 as a whole were up by three per cent compared to the first three months of 2013.

"Sales activity in the GTA accelerated last month. Compared to last year, a greater number of buyers found affordable home ownership options, as evidenced by sales growth for all major home types. Against this backdrop, however, overall inventory at the end of March remained lower than last year. This means competition between buyers increased, which is why the average selling price continued to climb," said Ms. Usher.

The average selling price for March 2014 sales was $557,684 - an increase of almost eight per cent compared to the average reported for March 2013. The average price for the first quarter of 2014 was up by 8.5 per cent year-over-year.

"With borrowing costs remaining low, and in fact declining, strong home ownership demand will continue to butt up against a constrained supply of listings. Strong price growth will be the result for the remainder of 2014. If the pace of price growth experienced in the first quarter is sustained, TREB may revise its outlook for the average selling price," said Jason Mercer, TREB's Senior Manager of Market Analysis.

Summary of TorontoMLS Sales and Average Price March 1 - 31

2014

2013

Sales

Average Price

New Listings

Sales

Average Price

New Listings

City of Toronto ("416")

2,978

$597,401

5,625

2,826

$560,661

5,470

Rest of GTA ("905")

5,103

$534,506

9,204

4,711

$491,180

9,148

GTA

8,081

$557,684

14,829

7,537

$517,232

14,618

TorontoMLS Sales & Average Price By Home Type March 1 - 31, 2014

Sales

Average Price

416

905

Total

416

905

Total

Detached

1,011

2,926

3,937

898,332

644,237

709,487

Yr./Yr. % Change

6.5%

8.8%

8.2%

6.8%

9.3%

8.3%

Semi-Detached

303

556

859

658,429

436,630

514,867

Yr./Yr. % Change

1.0%

0.0%

0.4%

8.7%

8.4%

8.6%

Townhouse

304

958

1,262

483,639

404,664

423,688

Yr./Yr. % Change

2.7%

10.6%

8.6%

7.7%

9.2%

8.5%

Condo Apartment

1,331

554

1,885

384,865

290,637

357,172

Yr./Yr. % Change

6.9%

14.5%

9.0%

5.1%

4.3%

4.6%

Greater Toronto REALTORS® are passionate about their work. They are governed by a strict Code of Ethics and share a state-of-the-art Multiple Listing Service. Over 38,000 TREB Members serve consumers in the Greater Toronto Area. TREB is Canada's largest real estate board.